Thursday, December 27, 2012

With its sleek, streamlined body, and long, muscular limbs,
the cheetah is built for speed. Capable of running at an incredible 70 mph, the
cheetah is faster than the rest of the big cats, or any other land mammal. As
you draw, try to bring out the power and grace of this beautiful feline.

The key to drawing anything is to break it down into basic
shapes. If you can draw circles and ovals, you can draw a cheetah. Don't be discouraged if your first attempt
doesn't turn out exactly like the picture. Practice makes perfect, so let's
begin!

Don’t give up if your first drawings aren’t perfect. Art is not
something that can be learned overnight. Drawing is a skill that must be
practiced and supplemented through observation, so keep a sketchbook,
and take it with you everywhere. Look around you, draw what you see.
Visit the zoo and sketch animals. Sketch people at the mall. The more
you draw, the better you’ll get. Good luck!

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Happy Holidays! Here’s Santa Frostbite to celebrate the season!
(Frostbite says “Bah, Humbug!” ^o^;;) Felt bad about not having any time
to do a proper Xmas pic, so I did the next best thing and painted a
Santa hat on Frostbite.

Friday, November 30, 2012

With the release of my newest tutorial drawing book Draw More Furries, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the talented artists who contributed illustrations. Given that so many artists these days work digital (myself included), it was a wonderful treat to have Kacey Miyagami do a traditional acrylic painting for the book. Check out the exquisite coloring on this lovely illustration of a shy raccoon enjoying apple pie. The delicate textures of fur and blades of grass are a nice touch.

Here’s what she had to say about her artistic process:

"I work primarily traditionally, my preferred medium for illustration being fluid acrylic paints. Fluid acrylics are a watered down version of full body acrylics, which behave similarly to both acrylics and watercolors. I start an illustration with one or more simple concept sketches, which I then redraw and refine into a finished pencil sketch on cold-press illustration board. Often, I will scan this pencil sketch and do a quick digital color test to determine shadow placement and overall color scheme before committing to the actual painting. Once I begin painting, I will work from the background forward, painting the characters last, to make sure they feel unified with their surroundings. A particular focus of mine with character illustrations is to create detailed environments to provide greater context and narrative for the characters." - Kacey

Draw More Furries is now available in bookstores, as well as through my online shop!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Based on Zefanya N Putri's winning entry in my Arctic Animal Comic Competition, this illustration depicts her collared lemming character, Zaenok. I was really taken with the idea of a tiny lemming reaching for the stars and dreaming big. And traveling the ocean by seal. Zefanya will be receiving the original drawing and print
of this in the mail as part of her prize pack. :)

Friday, November 2, 2012

Illustration created to help promote the efforts of wild cat conservation group, Panthera, published in the
November/December 2012 issue of Bare Essentials magazine (see pg 68 for Panthera illustration).

Friday, October 26, 2012

With the release of my newest tutorial drawing book Draw More Furries right around the corner, I want to take a moment to highlight some of the talented artists who contributed illustrations. Here's Heroes of the Tall Grass by Kelly Hamilton. I was so happy to when Kelly agreed to participate on the book, because she has long been an inspiration for my own work. Her characters are always so wonderfully expressive, and her style has the perfect blend of cartoony realism that I love.

For this illustration, I asked her to depict a ragtag group of adventurers out on the savanna, embarking on a journey. I gave her the hyena's character design to start with and she designed from scratch the meerkat and agama lizard to be his companions. You can really get a sense of their personalities from the body language and facial expressions.

Here’s what she had to say about her artistic process:

"My process starts with research, usually by finding photos online to inspire the characters, environments, and costumes in the image. Next, I sketch out a series of tiny thumbnail drawings, to plot out the basic composition and poses. That's followed by a larger, more refined sketch where I try to solve any remaining composition problems. I also like to add shading at this step to plan out the values in black and white. Inks and flat colors are done digitally in SAI Paint Tools, with final touches and textures created in Photoshop. Along the way I like to check my drawing by mirroring the sketch, and check values by converting the image to black and white. When the basics are solid, the final steps of inking and coloring are a breeze." - Kelly

Draw More Furries arrives in bookstores on November 23, 2012.Signed copies are available through my online shop!

Friday, October 19, 2012

I’m pleased to announce the winners for the 2012 ‘My Arctic Animal’
comic competition! I was amazed and moved by the creativity, passion and
variety of the entries I received. They were incredibly varied, from
dramatic, to funny, to heart-wrenching, utilizing every art medium from
crayons to digital paint. In fact, there were so many fun and creative
entries to choose from, it was difficult to narrow it down to just one
for each age group (8 and under, 9 to 13, 14 to 18).

What I love about Zefanya’s comic is her clever use of layout to take
us on a guided tour of the Arctic through the eyes of the collared
lemming, Zaenok. From sword-fighting narwhals to leopard seals used as
platforms, the sequence of events packed into this single page makes it a
joy to read. Congratulations Zefanya!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Arriving in bookstores November 23rd! The follow-up book to Draw Furries, Draw More Furries is packed with more fantastic furries and scalies to draw!

This book shows readers how to create anthropomorphic characters
(animals with human-like characteristics) that effectively convey
various personalities, combining elements of people with those of furry
(or feathered or scaled) animals, reptiles and mythical creatures.

Here’s a few sample spreads:

Signed copies of the book are available through my online shop! Go here to order your copy.

Friday, September 28, 2012

With the release of my newest tutorial drawing book Draw More Furries
right around the corner, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of
the talented artists who contributed illustrations. Here's Serpent Versus Saurian by Nimrais. Her ability to tell a story through excellent composition, strong figures, and vivid colors is breathtaking. I entrusted the most action-packed of the chapter openers to her care, an epic battle between a Triceratops Warrior and a Cobra Queen for Chapter 3: Scalies, and I couldn't be happier with the results:

Here’s what she had to say about her artistic process:

"I'm a female illustrator and designer from Germany. I've always been pretty creative and
enjoy not only drawing but many other activities like crafting, photography and
design. Now I'm a professionally trained Media Designer and I have a Bachelor's
Degree in Design. For my digitally drawn pictures, I use Adobe Photoshop for
both the sketches and coloration. I start with basic flat colors, then I add
the shadows and highlights and continue with the details after that. At the
end, I make any necessary color corrections to give the picture a balanced
look." - Nimrais

Draw More Furries arrives in bookstores on November 23, 2012.Signed copies are available through my online shop!

Friday, September 14, 2012

With the release of my newest tutorial drawing book Draw More Furries
right around the corner, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of
the talented artists who contributed illustrations. First up is
Quiescent by Kristen “CentraDragon” Plescow,
whose whimsical digital painting style and color palette are a joy to
behold. This tranquil illustration of a kirin appreciating nature is
featured as the double-page spread for Chapter 4: Mythical Creatures.

Here’s what she had to say about her artistic process:

“My process varies a bit from day to day, but overall I try to
keep everything as simple as possible. For a large illustration like
this, I start with lot of smaller doodles with ink and markers to get in
the spirit of things, and to better envision the world around the
character. Next, I make a sketch in Photoshop CS4, and move onto a quick
under painting. Once I’m satisfied with the composition and color
scheme, I’ll work on refining and detail from back to front. I don’t
worry too much about layers, and like to merge them as I go. One thing
I’ve learned—if you know there’s a part of your painting that’s going to
be more difficult, always (ALWAYS) do it first. It’ll save you a lot of
frustration and rage-quits later on.” -Kristen

Draw More Furries arrives in bookstores on November 23, 2012.Signed copies are available through my online shop!